USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1878 > Part 5
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The needs of our schools for further accommodations will, during the current year, become somewhat urgent. The Intermediate room in the Athens House is very unsuitable for the use required, and there is a strong probability that the Primary School in that building will require permanent division. By the addition of a wing to the building, of sufficient size for entries and stairways, the Intermediate room may be enlarged and much improved, and a room suitable for an addi- tional Primary be constructed on the second floor ; or the plan of the late superintendent, of one room upon the second floor, divided by mov- able partitions, be adopted instead. The expense of such alterations, excluding the cost of any new furniture, should not exceed $1,200. In the Second Ward, there will, with the opening of spring, come an imperative demand for more rooms for schools. This need may be met by a reconstruction of the Commercial-street house in the manner suggested for the Athens house.
The Perkins School-house has become inadequate in size and other- wise undesirable for the schools which now occupy it. . By remodelling the Broad-street house at an expense not exceeding the value of the Perkins house and lot of land, as your committee think, four con- venient rooms for the younger grades may be obtained, and all of the Primary and the lower Intermediate grades be brought together in this more central location.
The room in the Town House, used by the Centre Mixed Inter- mediate, is utterly unfit for that use, by reason of its size, but we are unable to suggest any remedy for this unfitness, except the erection of a new schoolhouse in that vicinity, or the abolition of the school.
The superintendent of our schools for the year just closed has sub- mitted to the committee an able report, in which his views in relation to the past and present condition of our schools, and of their pros- pects and needs in the future, are set forth with much earnestness and in detail. This report has been accepted and placed on file, and those portions of it which we regard as of more especial interest to our citizens are printed herewith for their consideration ; but the commit- tee desire that these acts of acceptance and printing shall not be deemed to imply an agreement on their part with all the views ex- pressed and methods recommended therein.
.
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ESTIMATES.
The committee estimate the expense of maintaining the public schools of the town for the ensuing year as follows : -
Salaries of fifty-one teachers
$22,330 00
Fuel, care of rooms, and incidentals . .
.
4,200 00
$26,530 00
Deducting as the sum likely to be r. ceived from other sources
1,530 60
Leaves to be raised by taxation
$25,000 00
For ordinary repairs of schoolhouses and grounds
$2,000 00
GRADUATES OF THE HIGH SCHOOL IN 1878.
NORTH SCHOOL.
ARTHUR HOWARD BURRELL.
CYNTHIA REED HOLBROOK.
JOHN THOMAS CAULFIELD.
JAMES ELLIS HUMPHREY.
ELIZABETH FRENCH CUSHING.
ELIZABETH ANCELLA PRATT.
LILLIAN ADELIA HARLOW.
JOSEPH OSGOOD THOMPSON.
SOUTH SCHOOL.
CLARA R. BLANCHARD.
M ANNA CADY.
ARTHUR C. HEALD.
MARY E. LONG.
QUESTIONS USED AT THE ANNUAL EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR ADMISSION TO THE HIGH SCHOOL, JULY, 1878.
ARITHMETIC.
(When you cannot solve the whole of a problem, work out carefully such parts as you can. )
1. Add these three numbers : One million and seventy thousand, and eight hundred and forty-nine ten thousandths ; one hundred and one thousand and six, and forty-seven millionths ; one, and one hun- dred and four hundred-thousandths.
2. How many feet of surface in the faces of a cube whose edge is nine feet?
3. What is the greatest common divisor of 13212 and 1851 ?
4. Divide - 82 - 23 15
ELMER E. SARGENT. GEORGE STETSON. L. WADSWORTH TUCK.
6
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5. What is the bank discount, at 4} per cent per annum, on a 3 months note for $5,000, dated Dec. 1, and discounted Dec. 20, 1878?
6. If $1,000 gains $25 in two months, what rate per cent would it gain in one year ?
7. If a man travels 64 rods in .05 of an hour, how many minutes will it take him to go a mile ?
8. Write 132 and 271% in decimal form.
Take these decimal forms, and divide the first by the second.
9. A, B, C, D, and E bought a vessel to send for sealskins, their investment being in the following proportions : A, }; B, {, C, 3; D, 3 ; and E, $1,500. Their profit from the enterprise was $7,500. What was the capital of each? What was the profit of each ?
10. If it cost $312 to enclose a field 216 rods long and 24 rods wide, what will it cost to enclose a square field of equal area with the same kind of fence?
LANGUAGE.
1. The following letter dictated : -
WEYMOUTH, MASS., July 2, 1878.
MY DEAR BROTHER :
The fourth instant will be the seventy-third anniversary of our ven- erable father's birthday. The nation, which, in three wars, he so bravely helped defend, celebrates its Declaration of Independence on that day, and makes it a holiday for you and me. Let us go together to the old home. I will meet you at seven o'clock, A. M., at the Eastern Depot, Boston.
Yours affectionately, WM. G. NOWELL.
2. What is a clause ? A phrase ?
3. Write a sentence containing a proper noun, an adjective in the comparative degree, and a relative pronoun.
4. Classify as primative, derivative, or compound the following words : Mother, watchman, watchful, reform, relate.
5. Use in sentences : Whether; either ; without; separate ; but few.
6. Classify into parts of speech the words in the following : -
" It is written on the rose, In its glory's full array, - Read what those buds disclose, Passing away."
7. Write the possessive singular and plural of Mr. Gray, lily, princess, valley, woman.
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8. " It is the duty of education to employ all these capacities of good for purposes of human beneficence."
(a) What is the simple predicate in the above sentence?
(b) What is the complex subject?
9, 10. "I think, boys," said the teacher, when the clock struck twelve, " that I shall give you an extra half-holiday this afternoon "
Name each verb, and give its principal parts, its complete ob- ject, and its modifiers.
GEOGRAPHY.
1. (a) Over how many miles (nearly) do the rays of the sun extend from north to south at any one time ?
(b) At what time are the rays vertical on the equator?
(a) What lifts water into the air from the land, the ocean, and 2. other bodies of water ?
(b) What brings the clouds over our heads ?
(c) What causes the vapor of the clouds to fall to the earth in the form of rain?
(d) How does the water go back to the ocean ?
(e) What good does it do in going ?
3. (a) What continent has the most regular coast line ?
(b) The most irregular ?
(c) Would it be better for us if all coast lines were straight?
(d) If so, why ? If not, why not?
4. (a) Name three things in which the surface of North America resembles that of South America.
(b) In what two features are the general outlines of North and South America alike ?
5. Why is it that on one side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains the land is very fertile, while on the other side there is a rocky, barren desert ?
6. State accurately the zone or zones in which each of the six continents lies.
7. Why are there larger cities at higher latitudes in Europe than in America? State your reasons in full.
8. Describe as fully and precisely as you can the position of the following cities, specifying in what part of its country or State and near what stream or body of water each one is situated : Montreal, Buffalo, Constantinople, London, Philadelphia.
9. Name and locate all the great peninsulas in the world that ex- tend toward the south ; toward the north.
10. Name two ports to which you would sail for wheat ; tea ; cot- ton ; elephants ; monkeys.
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HISTORY.
1, 2. Sketch such a map of the United States as will show the territorial growth of the nation. Label each addition since 1776, so as to indicate its time, manner, and source.
3. Tell how Walter Raleigh, William Penn, John Smith, Hendrick Hudson, and Miles Standish were connected with the early history of our country.
4, 5. State what you know about the French and Indian War, and consider especially the following topics : Cause of it; time ; battles ; prominent leaders ; results.
6. Name three battles fought in New England during the Revolu- tionary War, four in the Middle Atlantic Colonies, and three south of the Potomac. Give the successful side in each.
7. (a) What inventions have greatly promoted the development of our country ?
(b) What effect did the invention of the cotton gin have upon the material prosperity, the social institutions, and the politics of the country ?
8. Mention five persons to whom the people of the United States owe a debt of gratitude, and state the service each did.
9. (a) When and how was negro slavery introduced into the Colonies ?
(b) What was the Missouri Compromise, and out of what cir- cumstances did it grow ?
10. (a) Who were the Nullifiers?
(b) Why did the South rebel in 1860?
SPELLING.
No Inecessity 2compelled him to labor, but the 3ferocity of his thirst for gold. 4Separated from his family, living the 5pitiable life of a miser, Gzealous for naught save the &pursuit of gain, his 9avarice 10for- bade his 11receiving that 12reverence 13which is due to the aged.
I have been studying 14physiology.
A 15solitary crow sat on a tree.
This turkey's leg would be more 16edible if its 17sinews were not so 18tough.
Can 19parallel lines be 20% blique ?
Quickly 21disappearing, he suddenly 22emerged from the other side of the thicket, and began 23gathering 24berries in the field.
What a 25miscellaneous collection of words !
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PHYSIOLOGY.
1. What three uses of the bones ?
2. What does the upper cavity of the trunk contain ?
3. Describe the clavicle and its uses.
4. Name all the permanent teeth.
5. What and where is the larynx ?
6. Name the organs of circulation.
7. By what channels does the blood flow from the heart? Back to the heart?
8. Explain the physiology of the saying, in reference to a par- ticle of food, " That went down the wrong way."
9, 10. Give the history of a monthful of bread from the time we begin to eat it. Tell through what organs and processes it passes.
DRAWING.
(To be done without ruling or measuring.)
Draw a vertical line three inches in length :
Divide it into equal parts :
Through the point of division draw a horizontal line, having the same length as the vertical, one half on each side of it :
Upon these lines as diameters draw a square :
Draw the diagonals of the square :
Divide each semi-diameter into three equal parts :
Join the points of division nearest the centre of the square by straight lines forming an inner square :
Draw a circle within this inner square touching its sides :
Draw a second circle within the first, one eighth of an inch from it and parallel to it :
In each corner of this large square draw from memory an ivy leaf, the upper point touching the corner of the large square, and the lower point touching the corner of the small square :
Erase diameters :
Line in the drawing.
Table of admissions to the High Schools in July, 1878, showing the per cent of correct answers to the foregoing questions, given by the successful applicants. The combination mark in this table was obtained by multiplying the per cent of each pupil in the several studies by the following numbers : - In Arithmetic, by 7 ; in Lan- guage, by 5 ; in Geography, by 4; in History, by 4 ; in Spelling, by 3 ; in Drawing, by 1; and Physiology, by 1; and dividing the sum of the products by 25.
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Pupil's Number.
Arithmetic.
Language.
Geography.
History.
,Spelling.
Drawing.
Physi logy.
Combination
Relative
Rank.
From what schools promoted.
1
84
72
84
85
80
80
67
80
4
Torrey Street.
4
37
45
67
79
80
75
50
57
41
Athens (did not enter).
7
92
76
82
89
84
90
72
1
Torrey Street.
10
52
48
65
67
88
70
60
61
30
Athens (did not enter).
.
11
81
80
8 3
89
88
70
76
83
2
Mt Pleasant.
12
70
69
96
81
64
65
79
75
13
Commercial Street.
13
43
58
50
74
84
70
86
60
33
Pratt.
17
50
54
47
59
92
40
56
57
43
Pratt.
20
28
69
52
77
84
60
78
58
38
Mt. Pleasant.
21
78
69
56
76
40
55
54
66
22
Torrey Street.
22
54
53
68
75
64
60
87
62
28
Mt. Pleasant.
23
66
68
24
69
96
40
72
63
25
Mt. Pleasant.
24
40
69
62
60
88
35
64
58
37
Pratt.
26
40
52
52
68
92
50
82
57
42
Mt. Pleasant.
27
38
67
67
64
88
60
56
60
34
Pratt.
28
St
46
65
53
68
45
34
63
26
Torrey St (did not enter)
29
59
54
74
78
68
70
87
66
21
Main Street.
31
56
51
74
48
88
45
78
61
31
Athens (did not enter).
33
71
76
79
78
96
80
77
78
7 Mt. Pleasant.
36
52
48
74
68
68
60
61
60
32
Main St. (did not enter).
37
94
73
71
80
100
40
40
80
.5
Torrey Street.
38
96
63
82
83
80
40
57
79
6
Torrey Street.
41
50
57
53
65
84
45
88
59
35
Mt. Pleasant.
43
70
57
77
62
76
35
38
64
24
Torrey Street.
44
52
86
55
66
92
50
81
67
18
Main Street.
48
80
57
86
75
84
75
90
76
12
Mt. Pleasant.
49
57
59
73
82
100
70
92
71
15
Mt. Pleasant.
50
44
71
59
73
96
65
63
64
23
Pratt.
51
32
64
46
82
96
45
86
59
36
Mt. Pleasant.
52
26
77
58
74
92
20
43
57
40
Torrey St ( did not enter)
54
48
74
41
85
92
25
32
62
29
Commercial Street.
56
46
70
66
56
80
80
77
62
27 Main Street,
71
75
75
71
82
100
30
82
77
10
Mt. Pleasant.
73
68
77
61
92
100
70
90
77
9
Mt. Pleasant.
75
55
61
76
71
96
65
70
68
17
Pratt.
76
85
71
75
72
64
45
45
72
14
Torrey Street.
79
60
53
70
86
96
90
88
71
16
Torrey Street.
83
65
67
70
71
72
40
60
67
19
Commercial Street.
85
86
72
83
82
92
70
78
81
3
Mt. Pleasant.
86
57
76
55
62
88
60
93
67
20
Mt. Pleasant.
88
70
83
75
73
92
90
1- 80
78
8
Main Street.
89
51
57
60
56
80
50
43
58
39
Pratt.
All of the foregoing whose relative rank is below 33 were admitted upon probation, after a re-examination of their papers, and consulta- tion with their teachers in the Grammar Schools.
By order and in behalf of the School Committee,
JAMES HUMPHREY, Chairman.
WEYMOUTH, Jan. 1, 1879.
32
78
82
78
69
88
50
56
77
11
Pratt
.
Maik.
85
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF THE TOWN OF WEYMOUTH :
IT is well known that in the conduct, not only of our own schools, but of those of other towns, a radical reform has been instituted of late. It contemplates changing the whole mental attitude and spirit of our children as to their school life, to conform with principles ac- cepted as correct and methods believed to be the best by the great educators of this and recent generations.
In Weymouth, results have been aimed at that can be fully reached only after several years of steady and vigorous application of those principles and methods. What our teachers have accomplished by patient and honest effort can be at once and continually excelled through enthusiastic study and labor intelligently directed.
It was not to be expected that this forward movement would be made by all our schools at equal pace, and yet, notwithstanding unequal opportunities, our line of advance has not been broken. Over what ground the year has taken us, what signs of advantage now appear, and what purposes and principles have guided us, it is the main object of this report to state.
ORGANIZATION.
During the year a gain has been made in Ward 2 by the formation of two one-grade schools and three two-grade schools, in place of one of two grades, and three of three grades each. In the same ward further advantage can be secured by removing the Upper Primary grade from the Franklin, High-street, and Grant-street schools, and placing it with the lower Intermediate Grade.in High Street. This arrangement would allow an increase of the number of children at- tending the Pleasant-street Mixed Intermediate to the average stand- ard. It would be but a temporary arrangement, for after a few years a single grade (upper) Primary School will be demanded in the neigh- borhood of Jackson Square.
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In Ward 1, by reason of the general attractiveness and efficiency of the Primary grades in our schools as now conducted. the number of pupils enrolled in the lowest room of Athens building has increased to ninety-one, and the attendance is excellent. This increase has necessitated the appointment of a half-time assistant teacher, and her retention even during the winter months. Such alteration of that building is imperatively demanded as will provide for four schools, three of which will be of but two grades each, and will also permit the head teacher to pass easily to each room.
In such or other ways all over town the schools ought to be gathered into larger central buildings. By expending about $1,000 a year for the conveyance of pupils, the town would save at least twice that sum, and the efficiency of our schools be greatly increased. Friction arising from the fact that schools of not more than two grades can easily ac- complish an amount and variety of work wellnigh impossible for the school of five or six grades, would disappear. Every child in town would have as good privileges at school as every other child, which is not now the case.
The old prejudice against grouping all grades in one building is dying out in the face of living experience. No Primary children are safer than those in the Athens, Franklin, Pratt, and Central Street buildings, where they are in contact with Grammar, and, in three of these four schools, with Intermediate children also.
It should be recalled here that schools exist, not for their own sake, or for the sake of teachers, but for the sake of the children. It is one of the great problems of the time, whose solution has been actively discussed for several years of late by leading educators, how we shall preserve a systematic organization of schools, and also secure the rights of individual members. The one-grade teacher who uses the advantage given her over the teacher of two or more grades, to main- tain for each abler pupil the right to more rapid advance which is his by gift of nature, and to each weaker pupil his equal right to slower progress and more minute consideration, does simple justice, and does also her part in protecting our school organization from just attack. It is possible for a school system to so curb and lash to uniform pace the fifty or sixty minds brought together in one room for the work of one year as to invite the bit of Fate to its own lips and be brought to a full stop. Theory in grading, as in anything else, may be spun so fine as to snap from mere attenuation.
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EQUIPMENT.
True economy lies not in cutting off expenditures for profitable purposes, but in so expending that full value may be secured for the outlay.
The generous expenditure made for equipment is a wise expendi- ture. Its good effects are visible in the encouragement it has given teachers and the stimulus it has imparted to pupils, as well as in the greater ease, convenience, and effectiveness with which it has enabled both instruction and study to be carried on.
The superb natural slate blackboards placed in a recitation-room of the Athens building for a class of Primary children, the excellent liquid-slating boards, made upon a foundation of first-class plaster work in the High-street and Adams buildings, the great improvements effected by coating with the same material old surfaces in the North High School, in Athens, Mt. Pleasant, Broad-street, Perkins, Main- street, Centre, Central-street, and Union-street rooms will pay for themselves in a year, by saving crayon, erasers, and time, not to speak of the hygienic advantage of lessened amount of crayon-dust.
Both teachers and scholars have used their new good blackboards far more than a due regard for economy of time, patience, and health warranted them in using the old poor boards, and a suitable supply of erasers has been furnished to meet the requirements of the altered mode of work in this respect, - a supply that will stand, at least, double the use upon the new boards that it would upon the old.
The provision of a large number of blocks and splints, and some other material for object work, not only in the Primary but in all grades, has already proved a wise measure. Whether the largest and best use is made of these valuable means will depend upon each teacher's study of the most approved methods of instruction. Cer- tainly when 50,000 ten-inch splints can be bought for $5, and 3,500 blocks, excellent in form and finish, be furnished for as many cents, and are of more worth than any quantity of books in the hands of an intelligent teacher and her pupils, for the true objective study of the facts and principles of form and number that lie at the base, not only of all arithmetic, but of other branches of useful knowledge, it is sur- prising that such equipment is not more insisted upon as a thing essential. To teach fractions, for instance, a good teacher needs nothing more than an abundance of splints, good blackboard surface, crayons, and erasers. Our school-rooms should be abundantly equipped,
90
first of all, with every useful sort of artificial and natural objects. Instead of so much study of words in books, we should have more study of things actually in hand of teacher and taught Our schools will train pupils to think when they give them the objects which are the occasion of thought, the material out of which thought is formed, rather than statements in words, framed by mature minds, of ideas .and thoughts derived from these very objects.
It is recommended that the equipment with metric apparatus, begun in the High Schools last year, be completed by furnishing every school- room with a set, and having a metric measure of length in the hand of each pupil. The complete and early adoption of this labor-saving system is at last assured. We can prepare our children for its use by introducing, successive years, in all grades, practical handling of measures of length, surface, volume, and capacity. To accustom pupils to sight and touch of objects in metric proportions, our new blocks were made on the basis of these measures.
TEXT-BOOKS.
Except in the High Schools, where the interests of some departments seemed to demand it, no complete change of text-books has been re- quired. A partial exchange of a geography, out of date, for a new edition by the same author, was offered on very advantageous terms ; and many pupils, whose books were in condition unfit for use, or who had none at all, profited thereby.
In the five lower grades there had been no assignment of work in language. The cultivation of the art of expressing thought was quite neglected. The study of language was begun in the Upper Interme- diate grade by attempting, in one year, the whole of Etymology in Greene's " Introduction to English Grammar," and thence on through the Grammar grades perplexing technicalities occupied the time of pupils who, as yet, had but little good English to dissect. Believing that skill in expression must begin in infancy, a course of drill in the use of good language, as a vehicle of thought, was outlined for the Primary grades, on the basis of that helpful little book, Greene's " Thought and Expression, Part I"; and for the Intermediate grades, on the basis of the more practical parts of Swinton's " Language Primer." A gain was made by allowing Greene's "Introduction" to be continued through the Grammar grades instead of using his large grammar also. In some of our Grammar grades, classification and analysis upon the basis of ideas have been taught in methods independent of any text- book, and quite effective. Direction of the larger part of the work in
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these as almost wholly in the lower grades to practical rather than theoretical ends has proved grateful and advantageous to both teachers and scholars. To learn to speak and write correctly in our English language what one has to say, and to train the power to think some- thing to say, is one of the foremost purposes for which schools exist.
The revival of interest in the study of music led to the adoption of the only series of books in the market suitable for use where real instruc- tion in music is intended, the National Music Readers, prepared, with accompanying charts, by the gentlemen who have so long conducted this department in the Boston schools, Messrs. Eichberg, Sharland, Mason, and Holt. The purchase of these books was made voluntary, but the advantages and delight they afforded were soon felt by the children to be worth far more than their trifling cost.
The supply of books and other school material is a subject en- gaging the earnest attention of educators. The recent Massachusetts school convention at Worcester uttered a unanimous opinion in favor of direct purchase and ownership by towns. Bought in large quantities, these articles can be had at.the lowest wholesale prices ; and if they are thus provided, school work will suffer no delays for lack of books, pen- cils, paper, etc., often a serious drawback now. Last winter, in con- nection with another purpose, we began testing this plan by placing a few Readers in some schools. Later, supplies of pencils and paper were furnished, at an average saving of more than half the former cost to pupils, and to as great saving of time and improvement in the quality of work done. Still later, a large number of Readers were bought for several grades, at little more than half what they would have cost the pupils through the usual channels.
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